Mascom enters fight against substance abuse

SHARE | Tuesday, 15 December 2015 | By Ontametse Sugar

Botswana Substance Abuse Network (BOSASNET) has received a boost from Mascom with the launch of an SMS competition from which in they get 50% of the income. The NGO which has been facing dare financial constraints has hailed the new development. BOSASNET’s Acting Director Prisca Mokgadi was over the moon with the mobile company’s intervention, saying they have been desperate for assistance. Being an organisation that was established on strong Christian values, Mokgadi said they had fasted and prayed for a financial breakthrough.

Mokgadi encouraged Batswana to approach them and seek for help on drugs and substances or enquire about their services because it is not like they only address cases where someone is already an addict, but rather they also do screening and counselling for groups and families. “We do screenings. People can just come to measure their rate of alcohol intake to see whether they are going down the addiction lane or not,” she said. She appreciated the help that they will get from Mascom because as far as it stands now they are heavily dependent on the alcohol levy fund which is not enough. Chief Marketing Officer at Mascom Dzene Makhwade-Seboni said they chose to partner with BOSASNET as one of their undertakings to reward customer's loyalty.

She encouraged the Mascom subscribers to donate towards the cause. “You can choose to do it for a good cause or do it knowing that you can get something out of that,” she said. She said that is the combination that they have in place in order to inspire people to help until February 2016. Seboni said they will continue to partner with BOSASNET to help it meet its obligations. For someone to take part in the SMS competition they should send the word BOSASNET to 14000 which then makes them eligible for the highest price of the week which is P20 000 while the highest in a month is P200 000.